Claimed
by Paradox Discovered
Summary: Conner manages to run into Persephone, the queen of hell. He breaks the binding spell Hades put on her, but something goes wrong...plz R


Persephone's life was miserable.

She sighed, staring at her black varnished nails. Hell was not as shabby as it looked, and being the queen of it wasn't any better. Her husband, Hades, was out wreaking havoc in the mortal world, as usual. For some reason, he never let Persephone come along; maybe because she was a woman, or he just didn't like his wife coming along in "manly activities" as he called them. Persephone didn't really care for Hades, or men for that matter. She found out it was better to be alone most of the time, but sometimes, Persephone wished she had a friend to talk to. 

Persephone defiantly blew a braid out of her eyes, and shook a moaning soul off her leg. She picked up the soul by the neck, and said, 

"Tell me. Why do men get all the fun?" 

All the soul did was cry out, and claw at Persephone's arm before she dropped it with a thud. Talking to souls was no fun either. 

Persephone paced around for a while, flicking small flames from he tips of her fingers, and watching them float to the ground; they either went out, or caught on a soul, burning them to ashes. 

"This is no fun," Persephone said out loud. As usual, no reply from anybody, or anything. She cocked a black eyebrow, thinking about what she could do without breaking the rules. 

"Let's see," Persephone mumbled to herself, "I'm not allowed to go to any other dimension…I can't kill anything but souls…all I can do at councils is sit there and look pretty…nope, nothing to do," she mused. 

She plopped down on a rock, starting at her surroundings. She was on a small island in the middle off a greenish pool filled to the brim with souls, sticking their heads out and moaning. *Boring, boring, boring* Persephone thought deftly. Suddenly, she thought of something. 

*I don't have to listen to Hades. I'm my own person!* Persephone thought with confidence. *I'm getting out of this place!* Persephone looked around, looking for the rafter that rowed the visitors and occupants of hell across the never-ending ocean of souls. Persephone pursed her lips when he didn't come. Hades would do that, tell the rafter not to pick her up when she wanted him to, so all she could really do was sit on the little island doing nothing. Suddenly, an idea came to her. She could wade to the other hell dimension portals! But in that ocean of slimy, grabby souls…*Ew! No way!* Persephone thought quickly. Persephone blew another braid out of her face in thought. She sighed, thinking of what would happen if Hades caught her. She would get punched until he was bored, which was never. Her beautiful features were now dotted with bruises and scratches from previous beatings. He was what mortals would call an abusive husband, but Persephone called him "your average hell resident". For some reason, all men that lived in hell were like that; either hunting, wreaking havoc in the mortal world, or beating up innocent women. You learn to get used to it, but it never rubbed into Persephone. She just had to fight the cravings of hitting Hades back.

Persephone lifted the rock she was sitting on, and pulled out a change of clothes. It was just the usual: tight fitting black slacks, black boots, and a button down red t shirt. She ran her fingers through her long, dark brown conroes before smoothing her eyebrows; they were furrowed in an eternal frown, and her red eyes glistened like rubies in the sun. Now that Persephone was feeling refreshed, she thought of how to get out off the island.

Time passed, and it seemed the only way was to wade through the ocean of souls, which Persephone highly protested to. There was no way in hell (or heaven) that she was getting into that mess. But if she didn't stand up to Hades, how would she be free? Persephone lifted he right sleeve, and ran a finger over the burn marks on her shoulder.

Hades had bound Persephone to him by blood, so that if she ever escaped, no one would be able to touch her, because if anybody did other than Hades, Persephone would be severely burned. Hades had marked her with his sign, which was a five pointed pentacle, to claim Persephone as his own. 

Persephone sighed; she had to do something to get out of this place. Closing her eyes and wishing it wasn't her, Persephone slowly lowered herself into the cool, slimy water.

"Ew, ew, EWWWW!" Persephone squealed as her feet touched solid ground. The greenish water was up to her waist, and the souls started reaching up, clawing at Persephone, threatening to drown her. She kicked some off, and started walking with difficulty, for the water was thicker than she thought. After a few minutes of struggling, Persephone wasn't getting anywhere. The souls had hard grips on her legs, waist, and shoulders, and were focused on dragging her down. She struggled, but they held on tight.

"Shit, the dead are strong!" Persephone growled to herself as she tried to shake some of the souls off of her, but they wouldn't let go. Some of them started tugging and punching at the back of her knees; they were trying to bring her knees out so she would fall. Persephone locked her knees the best she could, but it didn't help. The souls were too strong for her.

"Damn this," Persephone mumbled before she was dragged under.


End file.
